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Monday, December 31, 2012

Hi Everyone! I'm a little early I know BUT no one does a mani for New Year's Day, you do one for New Year's Eve and it's usually all about the bling! I'm not a huge glitter person, there I've said it. When I first started this "obsession" I bought A LOT of glitters. Come to find out I'm not a huge fan of them lol! It's hard to stamp over glitters, especially the big chunky ones. We all know I almost always stamp which is why I don't wear a lot of chunky glitters.When the China Glaze Prismatics came out I passed on them because I heard they were pretty gritty. My sweet friend Marissa got me the WetnWild Coloricon dupes for them though and I'm SO glad she did! These are really pretty glitters! Duochrome pigment with tiny sparkly glitter, easy to stamp over it's a win win!I used the Coloricon's before to do my abalone shell mani so I decided to try them again for a New Year's Eve mani. After spending the day yesterday trying to figure out what I would wear for New Year's and this was the last one I did and the one I loved the most!Basically I "blobbed" all five of the WetnWild Coloricons on each nail. It was really hard to get a good picture of this because I don't have a high tec camera, but here's a shot of it without stamping

I stamped over it using my new Gals set I got for Christmas and Cheeky

The Champagne Bottle and flutes are from CH09 and the Bubbles/Circles are from GA26

I put the bottle image on my thumb too but didn't take a pic with my thumb showing LOL!Here's a pic in the shade so you can see the glitter when it's subdued

I'm pretty happy with this mani!!!A few of my friends thought it would be great to do a mani for New Year's Eve as well be sure to check them out! Happy New Year to you all!!!!!

Sunday, December 30, 2012

Hi Everyone! Yesterday I had the whole day to myself! It was the first time in over a month I didn't have to work AND didn't have to go anywhere or do anything. How did I spend it? Well let me tell you I didn't even shower or get dressed! I lazed around in my pajamas all day long and it felt darn good! I tried to sleep in but that didn't happen. Actually I didn't sleep in today either but that's okay.Yesterday I worked on coming up with an idea for what mani to wear for New Year's Eve. I'm not going out, but I will be going over to my little sister's for a fun party. Today I thought I'd show you the designs I came up with that didn't win and then tomorrow I'll post the winner!First up is my gradient using A England Bridal Veil, China Glaze Let's Do It In 3D and Sexagon. I love, love, love the Kaleidoscopes. I prefer them over any other holo.

I did an accent nail using my holo hex and black glitter franken, Midnight's Master.

Since I didn't have any true fireworks design on a plate I stamped using BM02 This one turned out just as I had envisioned, but I had a few other ideas so I kept on going.Next up is my gold and silver mani! I started with OPI Designer DeBetter and then gradiented with Funky Fingers Platinum Record. My accent nail is Sally Hansen Silver Sweep and Maybelline Bold Gold. I stamped with the cute "spermy" balloons on BM20

My nails are much too long for the first Bundle Monster set but I managed to double stamp which made me happy.

Here's a pic in the shade, it's still quite lovely even if it's not sparkly!

My next design had no stamping whatsoever. I hauled out the precious OPI DS Original for the 2nd time since I've owned it, which is a little over 2 years.

I just did a little tape mani based on a picture I'd seen way back when on Chloe's Nails. It's been getting pinned again recently which prompted me to try it for the first time

This one didn't really wow me, but got a few likes from my FB friends. The purple I used along with DS Original is my very fave purple creme which is Nails Inc ViciousMy last attempt before the winner was another mani from a pic I'd seen on Pinterest. I just loved this when I saw it. Unfortunately I don't have the Summer Cheeky set so I had to settle for the stars on BM21

I think I did a fantastic job double stamping those babies!

I chose Nfu-Oh 51 to both wear and stamp with. It stamps darn good I think!So there are all the "failures" What do you think?" Do any of them float your boat?Tomorrow I'll be posting the winner mani I chose--it turned out really good!Thanks for stopping by!! I hope you all have a fantastic day!

Friday, December 28, 2012

Hi Everyone! OMG I just cannot believe how much I love this Sally Hansen Save The Date! I did ANOTHER gradient with it and super loved it, wore it for an entire day AND THEN stamped over it to get another day's wear out of it! I know I say this all the time but I think I want to marry Save The Date!Here is the gorgeous gradient I did using it and Pure Ice Girl's Best Friend

I just really love the gorgeous rich color of Save The DateHere's a friendly tip though don't abbreviate it how we often do for polish like how Mad As A Hatter is abbreviated MAAH or Vampire State Building is VSB because Save The Date is STD!

Pure Ice Girl's Best Friend is a super lovely bordeaux with teeny holographic sparkle! It complimented Save The Date perfectly!I wore the mani as above for a whole day and LOVED it! Then this morning I stamped over it and loved it all over again!

I used a swirly design from Gals 44 and China Glaze Passion. I often refer to Passion as the McGuyver of stamping because it has saved many a mani for me!

I think this turned out fantastic!

If you don't have Save The Date you love the burgundy and wine colored polishes get out to pick one up ASAP!!Thanks for stopping by!! I hope you all have a fantastic day!

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Hi Everyone!!! I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas spent with family and loved ones. Despite it being a difficult time without my dad I did have a wonderful Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with my family. Yesterday the majority of us trekked off to see the Jack Reacher movie. When I got to the theatre I could not believe how busy it was! OMG the entire parking lot was full and I had to park in Siberia like a bazillion miles away! Several movies were sold out, Les Miserables, The Hobbitt and Django--Django??? What the french? Who wants to see all that violence on Christmas Day? Well no matter because Jack Reacher wasn't sold out. I made sure to let the man selling tickets know I felt his pain over his busy day. Once you work non stamp for more than 30 days you feel a kindred spirit with everyone who is working their socks off!Of course Reacher was pretty darn full so we had to sit on the first level and crane our heads back to see lol! It gave me flashbacks of Mel Gibson's Ransom when we thought we had plenty of time to go out to eat first and had to sit in the very front row because we were late! The movie was FANTASTIC! I know many people were again Tom Cruise for the part but he nailed it! My dad really wanted to see this movie so I was sad he missed it he would have loved it!Okay on to the nails. A couple of days ago my friend Jen of Jen's Wonderland posted a picture on Sally Hansen Save the Date. I could not believe how gorgeous it was on her. I felt like I had a color similar to it though and it turns out one of the Jessica Paint Cans I have is pretty similar to it, but I found myself at Walgreen's buying napkins and garbage and suddenly Save The Date found it's way to my basket LOL!It is stunning! As you know I am in love with the Sally Hansen prisms so it's no surprise she is still knocking out some fabulous polish. I have a lot of things in store for Save The Date but the first thing I wanted to try with it was a gradient. I hauled out a super old Mary Kay polish I got from my friend Heather eons ago, Essie Big Spender and went to work on a gradient

This is a really lovely gradient. I stamped over it with China Glaze Awaken

I don't know about you but I really think it was much better on it's own without any stamping!

I think maybe the grey in Awaken wasn't the best choice.Here is a before and after comparison

Sometimes it's best to leave well enough alone!Here's a picture of the polishes I used. I don't know what Mary Kay was thinking back in the day with the shape of those lids!

I plan on doing a few more things with save the date--I wonder if it stamps well?Thanks for stopping by! I hope you all have a fantastic day!

Tuesday, December 25, 2012

A blessed Merry Christmas to you all! Today is my first day off work since November 26th! What better way to celebrate Christmas than with a day away from the hustle and bustle of pastry sales! Of course here I am in my pajamas eating a delicious pecan kringle LOL! I spent Christmas Eve with my family last night, a tradition we have had for years. I thought it would be unbearable to have the night without my dad BUT while it was very sad it was also a very wonderful time spent with my family. I was so proud of my mom who made it a nice evening for us--I know her heart is broken and I know how hard it is to get up everyday and just live without my dad. I sat in his chair because I couldn't bear for it to be empty. We shared some good memories and made some new ones!Today I have another simple mani but I love how it turned out. I did a gradient using Zoya Suvi, Orly Meet Me Under The Mistletoe, and Sinful Colors Call U Later. The result was actually very subtle but I really loved it!

Monday, December 24, 2012

For unto you is born this day, in the city of David, a savior which is Christ the Lord. Hi Everyone! A Blessed and Merry Christmas season to you all. Sometimes in the hustle and bustle of this holiday season we get worn out and burned out and toward the end you don't always feel particularly cheerful. For me this is a very difficult holiday as it's the first Christmas I will spend without my father in 49 years. But that doesn't mean I don't know what this day and tomorrow is all about--because Christ was born I am assured life everlasting and the chance to be with both my dad and my beautiful sister once again. And I am so grateful to be with the family who loves me and who I love both today and tomorrow. There will be tears, but there will be laughter and memories of times past shared.I wanted a simple mani that for me is about the reason for the season of Christmas

I chose to wear the gorgeous Zoya Ibiza for the very first time. Not sure why I haven't worn a blue this beautiful before!I stamped with China Glaze Awaken and RA107 and then accent nail is Sally Hansen Silver Sweep and BM311.

I think it's pretty simple but sums up how I feel.Wishing all of you a joyous Christmas Eve!

Sunday, December 23, 2012

Hi Everyone! Today's theme in Adventures In Stamping is to use the colors on your Christmas tree. I believe I already told you no Christmas tree is up here lol! I can barely keep nail polish on a table without Roscoe knocking it off and playing with it, so there's no way a Christmas tree is going up. I do remember all the gorgeous ornaments we had on the tree when I was a girl growing up. I decided to pull out my gorgeous Illamasqua's for a ornament skittle mani

I was going for a "ornamental" look so I chose BM206. I stamped with both China Glaze Passion and Sally Hansen Silver Sweep

I don't wear my Illamasqua's often because A there are so costly and B because they are so costly LOL but when I do wear them I am always amazed how gorgeous they are

My mom has always had the most gorgeous Christmas tree in the world. This mani reminds me of some of those trees she's had AFTER no more kids were in the house LOL!Thanks for stopping by!!! I hope you all have a fantastic day!

Friday, December 21, 2012

Hi Everyone! We finally got some snow! I'm not really sure what's going on but suddenly we are naming our winter storms for crying out loud and we were hit by Draco. In honor or in light of this event I have a little snowflake mani

I used OPI DS Sapphire and a franken I made named Sighs Matters to do the half moon gradient. It's pretty lovely!

Sighs Matter is one of my favorite books and surprisingly (not) one of my favorite frankens. Here's a bottle shot of it

I stamped a couple of snowflakes on the accent nail and voila!

OPI DS Sapphire looks silvery here doesn't it?

I'm setting this up to post in the morning, I wonder how much snow there will be when I wake up???????Thanks for stopping by. I hope you all have a fantastic day

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Hi Everyone! Happy Wednesday! I have today a little Christmas tree mani which is nice in the fact it's the only Christmas tree I'll have in my house so to speak. I believe once you become a cat owner your days of having a Christmas tree are over! We haven't put one up in over 10 years. I learned the lesson the hard way cats and Christmas trees just do not mix. Being woken in the early morning aka 3am to the sound of your tree crashing into your television more than once is really a buzz kill. And now having not one but 2 kittens in the house there was just no way I was going to attempt it with them.I tried the best I could to do a tape mani for them using masking tape but my swear finger just looks like a mutant Christmas tree to me lol!

I had a super hard time taking a picture of this mani as I used the lovely OPI Designer DeBetter for the base and it's just too blingy lol! This is a picture I took of it in shade and you can see all the little glitters I applied to the tree from WetnWild Part of Five. The Christmas tree itself is Orly's Meet Me Under The Mistletoe which is a gorgeous glass fleck green. I'm planning on doing a gradient with it and Zoya Suvi later this week, I sure hope it turns out how I want it too!Here's a pic under the light to show how sparkly it is, but really it's hard to see the glitter details I think

Still no snow here in Racine, Wisconsin! Usually we don't complain about that but we really should have some snow for Christmas! I'm keeping my fingers crossed we get some soon.Thanks for stopping by! I hope you all have a fantastic day!

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Hi Everyone! OMG I cannot believe how crazy busy it is at work right now. Today alone we sent out 22,000 packages! Of pastries! Unbelievable! I guess you really take for granted being able to go to the bakery whenever you want for a kringle lol! Things will start winding down soon and I'll be on to another assignment after this one--hopefully something permanent in my near future.I did this mani last night and I just loved it! I am absolutely loving Wocka Wocka--it might be my good to red from now on--oh oh better get another bottle of it fast lol!My friend Michelle made a polish for me that I call Sissy Pants, it's what I used for the half moon in my half moon mani and then I topped it with OPI's Wocka Wocka, check out how cool it looks

Sissy Pants is a pale pink with white, pink and different colored green glitter in it. It's a private joke between us AND it sort of remind me of the ribbon candy my grandma used to have at her house.

I am not a fan of where the half moon smeared on thumbie though!But this is a pretty cool look if I do say so myself

I also love how the half moon look makes my nails look longer! I had a break in the pinkie so I had to file down, which hacked me off!Now look at the cool stamping I did over this half moon design

OMG YAY! Isn't this just too cute?!

I just love, love, LOVE how this turned out!

Definitely ribbon candyish or peppermint candyish now!I stamped using the tip image from RA-110Which do you like better? Before the stamping or after?Thanks for stopping by! I hope you all have a fantastic day!

Sunday, December 16, 2012

Hi Everyone! I am really pleased with my mani today!! The challenge in AIS today is stamping over a red base. I originally intended on hauling out one of my favorite reds, Knees Up but instead I decided to look through all my reds and rediscovered my Wocka Wocka from OPI. Man it is a gorgeous red!I've been wanting to do a Christmas wrapping paper mani for awhile so decided to just go for it.

This was a small labor of love. I started with a base of OPI Wocka Wocka and did an accent nail of Designer De Better which holy cow is also gorgeous. I used my China Glaze Passion and MASH-50. Then using Nails Inc Elm Park Gardens and Konad M60 I stamped over it. It turned out SO great!

I thought of using the green first for my wide lines and then the gold for the skinny lines but I tried it on one nail and didn't like it. I'm glad I switched them around because this is just perfect!I used Elm Park Gardens and the holly image on BM14 over the Designer De Better and then used Wocka Wocka for my berries

It's just pretty dang perfect if you ask me!

I love how mine turned out so I can't wait to see what everyone else comes up with.Thanks for stopping by!! I hop you all have a fantastic day!